Monday, July 7, 2014

When I wear my bracelet, I look at it and think, "what good can I do today?" Here's the rules of the game: A "good deed" means we've gone out of our way to help someone and it only counts if the deed remains anonymous. The kicker is the word "ANONYMOUS".

Sooo maybe I put a little too much thought into being anonymous... I can't tell anyone my name. Got it!

...There goes a black dog, running down the street at 730pm... There I go, fumbling for a leash and running after it! Calling me an animal lover is an understatement. My heart breaks a million times when I see a loose dog running on the side of the road... I'll call Eric crying because I couldn't catch it... or I'll call him to tell him there's a dog in our laundry room...

I chase him into the side yard of some houses and he was stuck between a gate and running past me. He tried to squeeze through the gate, but too bad his body couldn't fit! In defeat, he slowly walks towards me with his head lowered and slips his head into the leash. YES!! We walk around the neighborhood knocking on doors, hoping that someone will recognize him or better yet, be his owner!! ...nope, no luck... So we walk back to Cody Cake's Doggie Suites where he gets a nice bath, yummy food for dinner and an air conditioned suite (aka laundry room)...

We came up with all kinds of questions that night; wondering where he came from... why he didn't have a collar or identification... What his name was: Chewy, blacky, buddy... Why his owners weren't knocking on OUR door asking if we saw a loose dog...

I post on craigs list, pet harbor, facebook, call the Humane Society, take him to the vet to see if he's micro-chipped, and post signs in our neighborhood... I get three calls with hopeful owners wondering if I have their doggie... Thankfully, the real owner called and came to pick him up. He lives one street over from us. His name is Pudgy and my name is Anonymous. And they lived happily ever after. The end.

A few weeks ago, I met an incredible woman. Her name is Mary Fisher. She was on a short vacation and I was her Cabana Host for the day. I didn't poke and prod as much as I wanted to, but the small conversation we did have was very heartwarming and genuine. She told me she made jewelry and showed me her bead bracelet she was wearing.

She told me that she taught women in Africa how to make these bracelets. And the purchase of these bracelets employ these women (who wouldn't otherwise have a source of income) and pays for the cost of the supplies. WHOA, the most simple idea made the biggest impact on these woman's lives- how amazing!!

The bracelet actually has a purpose as well!! It's called 100 Good Deeds. For every anonymous deed you move the rubber ring over to the next bead. There are 100 beads for every deed and essentially acts as a counter. Wearing the bracelet is a constant reminder of doing good- and yet another simple idea has made the biggest impact on my life and the way I go about doing things.

When you get your bracelet, it tells you who made it...

And that is my very first deed! Sharing my story has already resulted in 5 people purchasing bracelets and joining me in this incredible Good Deed Movement. Lets light up someone's life, help fight a cause or do a selfless act and strive to be a better YOU! Stay humble and do the right thing. xoxo

Monday, May 26, 2014

Anyone who grew up in Hawaii, or knows of anyone from Hawaii - knows that we LOVE our white rice. You eat it with everything- which includes spaghetti, sloppy joes, eggs, putting it in ramen- yikes!! It comes with every meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner... In an honest effort to eat 'healthy' I'm trying to decrease my rice intake and decided to make lettuce wraps for dinner.

YUM-O! This is going into the dinner rotation for sure!!

First of all, I apologize for my cheesy screen shot of my Instagram- but I posted the pic and then deleted it! Second of all I apologize for being too lazy to edit and crop the darn photo. Third of all, I apologize for not taking more pics!

I swear that it was darn amazing. Eric told me he'd definitely eat this again! And the best part is that this recipe can be altered to suit anyone's taste!! I used shrimp, tofu and quinoa as my main sources of protein. You can find the recipe on Allrecipes.com

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir beef and
cooking oil in the hot skillet until browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain
and discard grease; transfer beef to a bowl. Cook and stir onion in the same
skillet used for beef until slightly tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir hoisin
sauce, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, and chile pepper sauce into onions.
Add water chestnuts, green onions, sesame oil, and cooked beef; cook and stir
until the onions just begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.

Arrange lettuce leaves around the outer edge of a large serving platter
and pile meat mixture in the center.

Peanut Dipping Sauce:

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

4 teaspoons hoisin sauce

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Add 1/3 cup water and next 3 ingredients (through red pepper), and stir
with a whisk.

A wonderful someone emailed me asking a few questions about my post "bridal shower gift: wine glasses and a wine basket" and mentioned it would be for her daughter's wedding favors. She wants to wrap the favors similarly to the way I wrapped the boxes. Assuming the favors would be much smaller I decided to do some research to show her examples of smaller lace-wrapped boxes and wanted to share my findings.

Blogger: Such Pretty Things has a wonderful tidbit on Paper Lace Favors - and the textured paper she uses adds such a delicate detail to the presentation.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

There's a couple that Eric and I absolutely adore. We consider them our very close friends. We can all hang out together and have a blast, or I can hang out the Danny by myself and laugh my butt off, so can Eric and Jen. How often can you find those type of friends who you can go on double dates too?!

If you haven't heard of the Hydro Flask, well, well.... If you like your drinks ALWAYS cold, or like your hot drinks to stay hot, then this is the perfect answer!! Put some ice in this baby and you'll find the ice still there in 24 hours!! No joke! Comes in all kinds of sizes and colors, which makes it a really great gift!!

Danny and Jen's birthday happen to be very close, so they always have a joint birthday. I decided to get them semi-matching Flasks. Jen is into Bikram Yoga nowadays. If you know Bikram (hot yoga), your water canister doesn't stand a chance after an hour and a half. And Danny always mentions how he wishes he had a flask. Found great reviews on a flask on amazon that didn't have a metallic taste and it had a small spot for engraved initials. (did it at an engraving shop locally)

I also found some really cute shot glasses made out of the travel-size alcohol bottles that was a perfect gift for Danny, who loves to host parties at his house.

Just thought it was a really cute gift for a couple and I know they loved it just as much. Happy birthday Danny and Jen!

Who would have knew how many uses there were for GLAD Press'n Seal?? I've never actually purchased or used this before, but decided to copy a neighbor and use it as a temporary privacy window covering. We ordered shutters and lucky for us, our order lands over two major holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) which gets our installation date in early January. We've got windows EVERYWHERE in our new house and our next door neighbor can see into our living room window, as can the neighbors from the street...

Our shutter company, unfortunately, didn't give us those temporary accordion shades, but some plastic that purely acts as a privacy covering- it prevents people from seeing through however doesn't do much with regards to blocking the sun from shining in. They only provided them for the bathrooms and master bedrooms [boo]. So much for the other 16 windows in the house...

In comes Press'n Seal! It's sticky on one side and it easily sticks to the window, making it 'look' etched. It still lets some light come through and peels off without any sticky residue. Here's the before and after of the window in our entryway.

And here's the before and after of our door leading to the balcony in the front of the house. Because the door was so long, I did use painters tape to secure the top and bottom of each, along with the center, just in case it peels off over a month duration. (I should have cleaned the windows BEFORE I covered them, but I was lazy...)

I'd say that this was the perfect temporary solution to give us the privacy we need. It covered 3 windows of varying size (the one in the photo being the smallest) and the door- all for under $4!!!! I feel pretty darn accomplished.

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Soooo, I'm in that age range that falls in the wedding, new baby, new house, new life category... In comes the bachelorette parties, bridal showers and baby showers. Seeing that I'm a massive commit-a-phobe, the thought of weddings and babies give me anxiety... so it's just the perfect place to make me uncomfortable and antsy- happy happy happy [insert sarcasm]...

BUT that doesn't mean that I'm not a good gift-giver and an even better gift presenter! I happen to love all things paper and given enough time to plan and prepare, love to make things pretty!

I've known about Judy's bachelorette weekend for some time now. She has a great wedding registry selection and of course my eyes went straight to the Riedel Pinot Nior Wine Glasses. Ohhh so many fun things I could do with this as a gift! I recruited two other girls to pitch in for this gift because I wanted to make it super special. Judy is the most wonderful person; someone I've grown up with, went through elementary, high school and our first year of college together. Her friendship is priceless.

So I put together a gift basket that will pair perfectly with her wine glasses: a bottle of Pinot Nior, Vinturi Red Wine Aerator, Trader Joe's Organic Chocolate Bars, and a fun and funky wine marker set that looks like chewed up gum! Placed it in a basket I found at Home Goods and wrapped it in cellophane and tied it with a butcher string that I braided. I made an easy love bird quilled card (photo above).

The thing about Judy is that she is very green, earthly and eco-friendly. So I knew that she would appreciate gift wrap that had a green-feel to it; hence the brown color theme. (which will look out of place in the sea of wedding gift wrap-but whatevs!)

I think she'll appreciate the thought put into her gift and how pretty it looks. I couldn't be happier for her and can't wait for her to tie the knot! Congratulations Judy & Sam!

Judy and I (and Sam that I'm holding) at the Happiest Place on Earth, celebrating her big day! LOVE YOU!

***UPDATE*** I have a follow up to wrapping with lace!! Click here xoxo